by Jenna | Mar 21, 2025 | ScriptMag Articles
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m responding to a few readers in one article, in response to their submissions to my recent survey about the classes, workshops, and programs I teach.
Their comments and questions coalesced around the purpose of writing:
“It’s not the writing as much as the writing with a purpose. What’s the end goal? What are the strategies?”
“I am once again struggling with the demon that says writing somehow isn’t enough. That it’s not enough of a purpose to justify my life, particularly as publishing keeps saying ‘no’ to my knocking.”
“What is my writing purpose?”
These are similar questions, but with varying shades of intent. I suspect these are questions all writers ask periodically, though the specifics may vary for each of us. These overlap with the commonality of purpose.
In the article, I explore navigating one’s purpose as a writer and reply to the specific questions and situations of the screenwriter, novelist, and essayist who chimed in via my survey.
Writing with purpose means being who we are in the world and expressing the unique insights and perspectives we bring to the table…. Whether we choose to focus on writing for the sake of the practice, make strategic choices to meet both ourselves and the market, or put our work out in the world ourselves, we write because we are writers.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
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by Jenna | Jun 20, 2024 | ScriptMag Articles
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m responding to a comment from a writer online about having a moment of wondering why she’s still trying to write.
Having one of those nights where it feels like all of my writing is just a giant waste of time and nothing is ever going to come of it so why do I keep trying 🙃 (This feeling means I’m due for some kind of success like, tomorrow, right??)
I love the positive spin at the end! I had a similar response, which was, “My take is that it means you’re on the verge of a breakthrough with your current script!” And, I immediately had several further thoughts on the subject, so I asked for permission to elaborate, which was granted.
In the article, I discuss the following suggestions for supporting yourself in a dark night of the soul moment:
- Know that dark nights of the soul are real and normal, yet painful.
- Ask yourself what it would look like not to write.
- Remind yourself why you love to write.
- Hold that no writing is ever wasted.
- See frustration as a sign of an impending breakthrough.
- Focus your appreciation on the process of writing.
- Create your own outcomes.
Although it might feel scary, these deep, dark nights of the soul are excellent fodder for equally deep moments of clarity.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
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by Jenna | Feb 22, 2024 | ScriptMag Articles
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m responding to a question from a reader about self-doubt and feeling like an impostor or not a “real” writer.
Dear Jenna, I keep feeling like I’m not a “real” writer and that I’ll never be good enough. But I want to write! How do I keep my self-doubt and feeling like an impostor from affecting my writing and creativity?
Feeling like an impostor or not a “real” writer is tough. It can even feel like maybe you’re not allowed to pursue this career you want. But every writer starts out from not being a writer. Some start earlier, some later, but we all start somewhere.
Many writers think we can’t call ourselves writers until we are sold, optioned, hired, produced, or published, and stick words like “aspiring” in front of the word “writer” until reaching one of those states, almost as a way of atoning for the temerity in adopting the identity at all.
In my response, I discuss:
- Writing regularly as an antidote to feeling like a writing impostor.
- Claiming your identity as a writer with the words, “I am,” while also taking the actions to back it up.
- Seeing your access to the challenges of being human as a tool for helping you develop deeper characters.
- Working with a compassionate mentor.
- Framing what you’re telling yourself about writing and about who you are as a writer.
What are you telling yourself about writing and about who you are as a writer, and is that story serving you? If not, tell a better story.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
by Jenna | Sep 21, 2023 | ScriptMag Articles
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m addressing a set of questions from a reader about managing self-doubt in writing.
“[My] fear of failure has several prongs for me:
1. What if no one likes my writing? I’m trying to make it as truthful as it is filled with emotion and colorful descriptions, but maybe it’s just me because I relate to it all.
2. I’m currently writing a memoir that involves some memories of my parents and their failures — but good memories also. I feel guilty/disloyal for writing about their failures, but to some extent that’s where the strength of the story lies.
3. What I create in my head as I’m falling asleep never seems to be as great when I put it into my computer.
4. I suffer off and on with imposter syndrome, but I usually like what I write in the end.”
This is a set of challenging questions so many writers wrestle with. It reads to me like issues of self-doubt more than a fear of failure, though the two are intertwined.
First let me say this: In working with writers all over the world, being a writer myself, and reading first-hand accounts of seasoned, professional writers, so many if not all writers deal with self-doubt and fear much of the time (including me).
Here are the 6 antidotes I discuss in my response:
- Use self-doubt as a clue that what you’re working on is important.
- Trust that truth transcends differences.
- Ask yourself empowering questions.
- With memoir, write for yourself first.
- Embrace the vision while also welcoming imperfection.
- Trust the process.
The real key to all of this is learning to manage the doubts and the fears so they don’t stop you from writing, and so that they don’t make the experience of writing miserable along the way, by triggering overwhelming negative self-talk, habitual procrastination, perfectionism, and even shame.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
by Jenna | Aug 29, 2020 | Final Draft Articles
“I have written 11 books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now.
I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.’ ”
—Maya Angelou
This week I’ve written a piece for the Final Draft blog about impostor syndrome. It can be paralyzing, and it stops us from stepping fully into actualizing our goals and visions for our lives, if we let it. I hope you find my thoughts on how to move forward with your writing even when you might be feeling like an impostor helpful.
5 Ways to Overcome Impostor Syndrome
Do you ever feel like an impostor? Like you’re receiving credit or accolades or attention for something you haven’t earned or don’t deserve? That maybe luck or error has gotten you to where you are? Or that perhaps you’ve been cheating your way through life, and you’re on the verge of being found out or called out at any moment for being a fraud, a fake, undeserving, or under-qualified?
If so, you’re not alone.
Turns out, many (maybe even most of us) feel this way, and often. This is what we call “impostor syndrome.” It can be paralyzing, and it stops us from stepping fully into actualizing our goals and visions for our lives, if we let it. After all, if we don’t believe we deserve our dreams, it’s hard to take action on them.
For thoughts on how to move forward with your writing even when you might be feeling like an impostor, read the article on the Final Draft blog here:
5 Ways to Overcome Impostor Syndrome
“I don’t know whether other authors feel it, but I think quite a lot do – that I’m pretending to be something that I’m not, because even nowadays, I do not quite feel as though I am an author.”
—Agatha Christie
